Fixed voice traffic continues to decline, down by a further seven per cent in Q3 2014, according to the latest report from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). Mobile traffic increased by just over two per cent in the same period but this slight increase doesn’t quite account for the drop in fixed minutes.
Is Voice over IP (VoIP) finally making the move to mainstream adoption?
It might come as some surprise to learn that at 13.9 Mbps, Ireland has catapulted itself to seventh fastest in the world for average broadband speeds.
According to Akamai’s ‘State of the Internet’ report for Q3 2014, this represents a 10 per cent increase quarter on quarter and a staggering 47 per cent increase year on year.
Following acres of newsprint and hours of airtime, ongoing agitation for broadband network investment is paying dividends, on the surface at least.
Infrastructure architecture is difficult at the best of times with a myriad technologies and delivery channels now in play. But in the hard-nosed world of business where everything counts in large amounts, does the drive for sustainability make the ICT decision-making process even more difficult?
“Anytime we get involved in negotiations, sustainability is quite far down the list,” according to Paul Kane, interim sales and marketing manager with datacentre provider, Servecentric.
Print has long been a target of the environmental warrior and the much vaunted prospect of the paperless office has never quite materialised. Nonetheless, managed print services are helping organisations to keep print, paper and consumables under control and in the process, contribute to greater sustainability in the workplace.
“Managed print services (MPS) involve the consolidation of hardware, bringing reductions in devices and consumables usage,” said Martin Deignan, country manager with Oki.
A recent review by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) of the government’s 2008 Accelerated Capital Allowance (ACA) Scheme reveals that we have a long way to go to achieve our 2020 emission targets.
The ACA scheme, which provides tax incentives to companies who wish to purchase energy efficient equipment including ICT systems, has delivered 46,000 tonnes of CO2 savings, representing 23 per cent of its 2020 targets.
Covering 10,500 products across 52 technologies, it’s claimed that through the scheme, companies can source up to 85 per cent of their equipment needs and enjoy tax breaks in the process.
Having just celebrated its 10th birthday, IP telephony services company, Blueface is continuing to ride the wave of adoption towards Voice over IP (VoIP) and hosted voice services with strong business growth reported.
According to Brian Martin, business development manager organisations large and small are responding positively to its message of significant cost savings, which the company claims can be achieved when moving voice traffic to an IP platform.
In its latest assessment of the telecommunications market, ComReg reveals that the number of smartphone/tablet users increased to 2,811,170 in Q2 2014, up by 3.4 per cent from Q1 2014 and a whopping 14.7 per cent compared to Q2 2013.
And with global pre-orders of Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 plus currently standing at over 4 million units, our love affair with the smart device and the immediacy of staying connected on the go, is set to continue.
Momentum in the broadband market has gathered pace with a raft of acquisitions, joint venture and strategic alliance announcements of late.
ESB and Vodafone have embarked on a joint venture to invest €450 million in a 100 per cent fibre-to-the-building broadband network offering speeds from 200 Mbps to 1000 Mbps across 50 towns and 500,000 homes and businesses. Mobile network operator, Three has just completed its acquisition of O2 and the company has also recently signed a 4G network sharing agreement with eircom to run until 2030.
Should businesses be concerned about this level of market flux and does increased consolidation weaken competitive forces?
It’s a tiresome debate – tackling the rural/urban broadband deficit, yet high speed, reliable broadband connectivity is as important as other key pieces of economic infrastructure.
Just ask the people of the UK, who in a recent survey for the Institution of Engineering and Technology said that extending superfast broadband nationwide would deliver more economic benefits than building new airports.
Minister White inherits the unfortunate accolade of being the fifth minister of communications to publicly proclaim that high-speed, broadband connectivity will be made available to all, irrespective of geographic location.
So is there any reason to believe that the National Broadband Plan (NBP) – designed to inject a further €1 billion of investment to tackle this infrastructural deficit through a public/private partnership model – will come to fruition under his stewardship?
If ever we needed proof that mobile CRM is taking off, it’s the prediction by Gartner that mobile CRM apps will grow by 500 per cent in 2014. Employees want access to information and they want it now in a user-friendly, intuitive, smart device interface, irrespective of time of day or location.
It’s an issue that’s raised with David Beard, CRM principal with Sage CRM on a daily basis.